


Left Behind

by Niibeth



Category: Dredd (2012), Undercover Boss: Starkiller Base - SNL Sketch
Genre: Asthma, Blood and Violence, Bruises, Child Neglect, Happy Ending, High School, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 03:09:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20828411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niibeth/pseuds/Niibeth
Summary: Matt has watched all zombie movies there are and knew very well that with his breathing problems he doesn’t have many chances to survive the Apocalypse. His new classmate looks like even a worse looser.





	Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> The story was inspired by the movie The Dead Don't Die, but wasn't intended as a satire.
> 
> I'm Niibeth on Tumblr and Kortesku on Twitter.

Panting Matt stood on the school porch. School bus, shaking and screeching, gained speed and disappeared around the corner. That was very, very bad. On the other hand, the fastest and angriest zombies have followed the bus. And that was good.

As soon as he sighed with relief, he heard a groan to the left and almost dropped the table-leg. Some schoolkids called the boy who was trying to gather himself from the floor a Zombie. Zombie legibly swore. He was covered with blood, so Matt gripped the table-leg tighter just in case.

\- Have they bitten you?  
\- Oh. No, that’s Mark’s blood. He pushed me but lost his footing, and they got him… - Zombie squinted and looked ahead – Now he is chasing the bus, I guess.

Asthma finally caught Matt. He dropped his weapon in a fit of cough and patted his pockets in search for the inhaler.

\- Let’s go inside. It seems that all living run away, and zombies followed, so the road is blocked. We can hide in school until the police come…

\- Yes, - rasped Matt, - Wait, Zo… What’s your name?  
\- I prefer Techie. Especially now. Are you OK?  
\- Will be. Soon. Where do you want to hide?

\- Somewhere with locks. And a bathroom, I guess. What about the nurse office?  
\- No. No bathroom there. Kitchen. There are a restroom and a back exit.  
\- And food, - concluded Techie.

They walked back slowly. The sound of alarm thankfully stopped. Wet floors were littered with lost shoes, bags and torn books, stained with blood. Not all zombies have left the building – moans and steps could still be heard behind the doors of the classrooms.

And neither Techie nor Matt could run.

Techie appeared in school a couple of months before and quickly dethroned Matt from his position of a top looser. Matt at least looked like an angry jock who could tie you in a sailor’s knot. You had to spend some time around to know about his breathing problems and that he was a nerd spending his free time constructing robots. Techie, as he noticed, has chosen Arts for extracurricular.

And Techie walked like a zombie. Slouching, on stiff legs. Obvious handicaps should have made people compassionate, but it didn’t work in school. Add paleness, reddened skin around eyes, dirty hair and same shirt every day – the nickname was inevitable. Matt thought that he doesn’t want to hear that word anymore in his life.

They cautiously peeked into the cafeteria. The hall was in chaos. Single zombie, one of the teachers whose name Matt didn’t know, was still there. She trapped in a chair and slowly crawled leaving a bloody trace.

\- Look away, - said Matt – and brought the table-leg down on zombie’s neck. The effort almost made him fall. But movies were correct. The body stopped moving.

Techie made a retching sound, but nothing came out.

\- Guess, I have nothing left, - he whispered.

They entered the kitchen facility. The room was more spacious then Techie imagined. High fridges and unknown machines still worked, the humming noises pleasantly overlapping zombie ambient of a school. Matt checked the backdoor. It stood ajar. Seemed like, as the alarm turned on, workers wisely left the building. Several zombies now walked in the backyard, so Matt cautiously closed the door. Techie did the same with the door to a service counter. There were still windows, one looking in the yard, another overlooking the service zone. The floor was as wet as in the rest of the building, and the place was warm, humid and filled with the smells of food going stale. Matt panted and leaned heavily on the wall, touching the inhaler in his pocket. If the zombies wouldn’t finish them, allergy still may.

Techie scootered to the bathroom. He returned after a while and hanged his yellow hoody to dry on the utensils rail. His t-short was also yellow and old. Now Matt could see that the boy was almost 2-dimensional, with soft-looking pale arms, skin covered in ugly bright bruises.

\- What happened to your arms?  
\- Ah? That. Someone stepped on me, - Techie explained.

They moved to the window and watched zombies walking in the yard.

Matt searched for his phone. When the first zombies arrived, he remembered, everybody rushed to the windows, taking pictures and videos. Except him. He was in his bad mood and didn’t want to mix with the crowd. So, his phone stayed in his bag, and when the alarm blared and they all run out of class, it stayed there. Second floor. No chance.

\- Do you have a phone?  
\- No, it broke, - said Techie, - And I think if police could come, they would have come already.  
\- Wouldn’t you like to call your family?

The question has caught Techie off guard.

\- Oh. Ma… Sure. Well, I think she’s all right. Probably better than we are.

When the crisis started Techie was in the art class. Things were going fine. He liked the elegant lines of a pine tree and the blue gradient of a winter night he drew. Then he remembered that the teacher was more sympathetic to the works with a context, to something engaging and provoking the viewer and giving social commentary.

\- The art shouldn’t be something your aunt will place on her mantelpiece, - she warned. Real art must be challenging.

Techie came to the class in search of peace, not ambition. If someone’s aunt decorated her dining room with his pine tree, he’ll be happy. But that wasn’t a way to earn a good grade.

He thought of naming the piece Solitude. Too obvious. Maybe, he thought, he can spray it with red paint and add something about the Blood of Mother Nature.  
And then the first zombie barged in. To Techie’s surprise teacher gave a furious fight and crushed a zombie’s head with the head of Hermes. Sadly, there were more zombies coming. After the initial stupor, Techie hid under the table and soon his drawing was covered with real blood, but he couldn’t see the effect.

Then the fire alarm blasted, and sprinkles sprayed all the artworks with a layer of water. Water didn’t affect zombies, but shocked people. It also made the floor slippery, and everybody started falling, which meant certain death to still living. The fight turned to chaos, and that’s when he crawl-sprinted to the corridor and lost his phone in the process.

Techie understood that most people probably had parents who worried about them, maybe even tried to save them. Parents who were worthy to worry about. As far as he knew Ma, she was asleep right now. No matter what she told him about a job interview. And zombies wouldn't be able to enter the apartment – she has been turning more paranoid with each year, so now the metal door with two locks and a chain was their most expensive possession. When she wakes up, all will be over, he thought.

Matt thought that his dad must be at work, and mom could be anywhere. The door was plywood, almost never locked when someone is home during the daytime. And what if parents try to find him? What if they see that he’s not on the bus and rush to help?

\- We can try to reach the city on foot, - said Techie.  
The thought was enticing, but Matt had to refuse.  
\- I don’t think so, it looks safer here.

Techie kept observing zombies. Matt searched the room and found a big pack of paper towels. He cleaned and dried one of the largest kitchen tables and sat there, where he could overlook both windows.

\- Look, - said Techie: They have a pattern.

He pointed at zombies.

\- They walk in circles. Three walk sun wise, and one walks against the sun. I guess he's a lefty. When they meet an obstacle – he pointed at the person fighting with the wall – they push it and if it doesn’t yield, they are blocked. Like a badly programmed vacuum cleaner.

\- Zombie-Rumba? Zumba?

Techie giggled against his will.

\- Zumba is a dance.  
\- What does it give us?  
\- Depends on their senses. Why do they follow the living? Do they see, or hear us or is it some sixth sense?  
\- And what do you think?

Matt felt some respect to a new friend. After all, he was a tech among them and should have made theories. He returned to the window and stood side by side with Techie.

\- It depends on why they are zombies. I mean it’s either a material reason or something supernatural. If it is something like a virus or mutation, they shouldn’t have any great powers. They are more like traps. If we know in what radius they operate, we can avoid them and stay safe.

\- And what if it a curse? Demons and shit?  
\- Maybe a prayer can help, - Techie said seriously, - but I don’t know them.

Matt dug in his memory and stammered Pater Noster out.

Unaffected, zombies kept circling the yard.

\- Maybe they are not in the radius of the holy effect, – said Techie.  
\- Or maybe they can’t hear us. I think you are right about the virus. I think if they will not eat anyone, they will tire themselves and stop.  
\- Then we must wait.

Feeling a little calmer, they discussed barricades. Kitchen doors seemed unreliable. But what if they trap themselves with the barricade? Can zombies climb windows? In the end, they moved kitchen trucks to both doors and left windows as they were. Then they sat on the table Matt cleaned and tried to talk about something not scary.

\- What are you going to do after graduation?  
\- Some service job that barely pays the rent, - said Matt.

Techie looked at him surprised. He had a strong belief that people in normal families must be full of optimism.

\- And if you could do anything you want?

That was Matt’s turn to be surprised. He hasn’t talked about his dreams since elementary school. Everybody was so practical and concerned about his health.

\- Animals. I’m allergic to most. But I’d like to be… A vet? Or maybe have my own zoo. Or just travel and make movies for BBC Nature.  
\- What about lizards and…

That’s was when they heard screeching tires. They rushed to the window. Old dirty Nissan made a wild turn in the yard. They couldn’t recognize the car or a driver. Nissan managed to swerve between two zombies and crushed into the third one. Then the driver backed up and returned to the road. The yard was silent again. Zombies not involved in the incident kept walking. The fallen one – Matt preferred not to think if he knew that schoolkid – tried to stand up but couldn’t. Then it continued it’s itinerary on all fours.

Techie shivered. Anyway, the accident proved his theory. It even looked now that zombies already walked a little slower and were less stable.

Matt went back to their post on the table. Techie searched around the kitchen and gathered some juice boxes, chips and granola bars. It was strange to think about food, but he felt exhausted. They shared the food and soon were surrounded by plastic wraps and empty boxes. Techie felt sleepy.  
The day dragged forward. They looked at zombies, ate and talked in hushed voices. In the evening they discussed lamps – what if the shining light would attract zombies? But staying in the darkness, while listening to weak moans and shuffling footsteps all around wasn’t an option.

The problem was solved by the streetlamps that turned on automatically at 20.00 and haven’t deserved any attention from zombies. Still, Matt and Techie decided to take turns. Matt gave his jacket to Techie as he settled on the table and soon felt asleep. In the nest made of paper towels, he reminded Matt the pet hamster he had at 5 years old before his allergy kicked in.

Matt walked back and forth like a sentinel. Without the mobile phone, he couldn’t understand how much time passed. The fear dissipated; he became almost used to the noises, and zombies who still walked in circles, or pushed the wall in case of one of them. Finally, when he saw stars in the window, he went to sleeping Techie and clumsily sat near him, then somehow lied down at his side. Techie stirred in his sleep. He almost woke up and remembered that it was his turn to guard Matt. But Matt slept on the edge of the table, his back pressed to Techie's chest, and he didn’t know where to put his legs and hands now. So, he hugged Matt and their fingers touched.

Matt woke up in a colder room with much less pleasant kitchen smells. It was a beautiful bright morning, and the sun shined as if nothing bad has happened. Matt didn’t want to look at the window. But he had to.

Zombies were still there. The one that got in the car accident didn’t crawl anymore, he was twitching on the ground. One of the walkers was now crawling. Two still walked, but slowly and shakily, as if very drunk.

Matt forcefully but quietly slammed his fists at the windowsill in joy – theory worked! And then there were gun bangs. Without the constant stream of cars on the road or a constant stream of schoolchildren, the sounds were terribly loud. Matt couldn’t see the shooter. Techie yelped in his sleep and almost fell from the table.

\- What do you think – are they already dead or are they ill and feel everything and just cannot stop? – he asked as he came to look in the window.

\- I wish you never asked, - said Matt. He almost got used to calling zombies “it” in his mind and now they became the people he knew again, and he thought inevitably about his family.

The gunshots stopped, and no one arrived by the school. After a short discussion, they decided to leave the building. If they saw any faster and fresher zombies, they could turn back and hide again. In case the old ones would attack they armed themselves with long broomsticks and kitchen knives. Also, by Techie’s suggestion, they wrapped each other in thick layers of paper towels. The idea was simple – human teeth are not very good for biting, so if zombie bites at a towel, it wouldn’t reach your skin, and you can tear the paper and get free.

Matt thought that he looked like a child playing mummy, but Techie said:

\- You look like a hero from Mad Max.  
\- A bit overdressed for that.

Teche blushed under his paper mask and was glad that Matt didn’t see his reaction to the image that appeared in his mind.

To be safe Matt told Techie about his inhaler and how to use it. Techie explained that he can run a short distance, but it will hurt, and he will walk even slower after that.

They have chosen a path as far from zombies as possible, and the plan worked. They walked, startling at every noise or unexpected movement, but zombies just continued their sad journeys. Only when they both were on the road Matt appreciated the fresh air. The road was empty: no cars, no pedestrians.

They walked in the direction of a city, looking around for the ambush – or help. Once they heard a sound of a helicopter, and waved their hands, trying to attract its attention, but it was too far, and soon disappeared.

The first dangerous place on their way was a gas station. A dozen cars got caught in a car jam there, and they could hear bad noises. As Matt and Techie slowly came near, they saw a zombie sitting on the driver seat of a grey sedan. That was a woman, and she couldn’t open her seatbelt. Her nails have left deep scratches in the plastic and upholstery. She writhed and moaned and couldn’t get out. The car window was half open and smeared with blood – that’s probably how she got bitten. A couple of zombies got lost inside the little shop. They have tumbled down most of the shelves, one of which has blocked the door, turning the building into a trap.

Matt and Techie left the crossroad as cautiously as they reached it, and nobody followed them.

Next stop looked more threatening. The road took them to a little plaza in front of a multistore office building. Here they encountered another traffic jam. A dozen or more zombies in different shapes walked around the fountain and small abstract sculpture. And there were a lot of dead bodies, it seemed that some people have jumped out of the windows. Each zombie had its own complex orbit, and Matt and Techie stopped to solve the riddle. Techie felt that he sweats under all the protective layers. He thought that Matt probably feels the odor, but embarrassment suddenly made him grab the bigger boy’s hand.

Matt wanted to hold Techie’s hand all the way from school. It was foolish, he thought. In case of a fight, they needed both hands. And it could look as if he was afraid. But he was afraid. More than ever in his life and the air was getting scarce again. So, when Techie gripped his hand with cold and sweaty fingers, he felt a wave of gratitude.

\- I think I see a pattern, - said Techie: Here – we can walkthrough.  
\- We are not in a hurry, - said Matt: Let’s wait and check if it repeats.

They sat by an overturned coffee stand and watched the grotesque parade of the walking dead. Most of them were middle-aged, in business suits, but some random folks and a sushi courier, who still carried a squared yellow backpack, also got in the mix.

When they were sure – and Matts’ breath got a little easier – they went forward, slow and quietly. And though he had to carry the spear in his left hand, Matt still held hands with Techie.

Afterward there were more cars on the road, but thankfully, all of them left by their owners, dead or alive. The rare zombies they still encountered were slow and pathetic. Matt felt more hopeful, but he still preferred not to think about his family – that thought brought to much fear.  
They were nearing the dirty white block buildings on the outskirts of the city. Those were residential units, so they had to be vigilante again. But that alone couldn’t explain, why Techie’s steps became so sluggish.

\- Tired? – asked Matt – he was tired himself and torn between the desire to return home as soon as possible, and the wish to hide and spend another day in safety until all the horrors somehow go away.

Techie stopped completely.

\- It’s my house, - he said.

Matt thought he could empathize. He’d be terrified to check his own house.

\- Let’s go very slow and look out for your folks.

Techie moved in slow-motion, feeling each heavy step as a complex separate movement, draining his all body. He realized that he doesn’t know if he wants to see Ma alive. She was always difficult, but she was the worst when things went rough. The cynical thought filled him with burning shame, and the usual mantra “I’m not even her son” didn’t help. They tiptoed past the garbage cans and playing ground – thankfully empty – past the garage doors and the broken apothecary window, and then a rasp shout made them both almost jump out of their skins.

\- Hey, you! Over there!

A small old lady with a massive looking gun waved to them from the first-floor balcony. Several bodies under it proved that the gun has been successfully used already.

Techie brightened and happily waved back, gaining a little speed:

\- Hi! It’s just me, Maz! Techie! 

He pulled at Matt's hand, never letting go:

\- And that’s Matt, we walked here from school!

\- Oh, dear kids! Come here, there are no walkers under my balcony. I would not advise you to enter through the door, because the corridors are narrow and there are still some zombies in the building. They can’t break my door, but I’m not ready to shoot in the house. Can you climb up my balcony?

Techie paused:

\- Maz… Have you… Do you know?

\- Oh…

The little woman sat down on her chair almost disappearing behind the balcony rails.

\- What if you climb up and drink tea with me, and I’ll tell you?

\- Please, tell me now! – shouted Techie.  
\- Fine, - said the woman, and Matt’s heart sunk, but he wasn’t ready to what she said next:

\- Ma… She took the road. I’m sorry.

\- Did she drove to school? – Techie enquired.

\- She said: “Fuck this, he won’t make it” and turned to the highway. I’m sorry. Maybe she will return later when things get better, - she added without conviction.

Holding hand wasn’t enough, Matt felt. He touched Techie’s shoulder.

\- You can stay with me. Both of you, - offered Maz again.

\- Do you have a phone? – Techie asked.

\- Sure, - said the lady: - And it started working recently. There was some malfunction, and then all my nieces and exes decided to call me at the same time.

She unlocked and gave Techie a surprisingly modern-looking smartphone. Techie turned to Matt:

\- Call your family.

After all, they climbed the balcony, freed themselves from their paper armor under constant giggling comments from Maz and drank tea waiting for Matt’s parents to come. They arrived with a strangest procession Matt has ever seen – it even included a limo. Those were many Kanata’s relatives and exes, who were coming from different directions, but synchronized as police opened the city border. In the second night after the Apocalypse zombies posed next to no threat.

At first, Matt thought that Techie will stay with Maz, since she has invited him, his apartment was nearby, and she was a lonely old lady. But now as her rooms flooded with people from the long epos of her life, Techie stood in the corner and looked like the only lonely person here.

Matt freed himself from his mom’s hug for a second and said:

\- Can we bring Techie with us? His mom… we haven’t found her.

Mom and dad looked and silently came to a mutual decision – he loved them, even more, when they were like this:

\- Come on then, boys. Say goodbye to miss Kanata and let’s go home.

They collapsed on the backseat of the family car. Matt had no idea how much tension his body stored until he melted on the faux leather. He used his last energy to find Techie’s hand again.


End file.
